


Never had a Chance, Did We?

by blackwolf066



Series: Season 1 what-ifs/fix-its/etc [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, Klaus Hargreeves-centric, What-If, just one of many possibilities, what could have happened during the first apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:33:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25276219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackwolf066/pseuds/blackwolf066
Summary: Dust and debris floated in his vision, but through it—through Ben’s frantic movements and moving lips, that Klaus couldn’t hear the words of—he could see it. Through the chaos, he saw as Harold was lifted up in the air; his whimpering and begging of his life, falling on deaf ears. He saw Vanya, his tiny unsuspecting little sister, swallowed in a white light that nearly blinded his retinas to look at. He saw Allison and Diego among the rubble.Allison didn’t get up. Nor did Diego. Klaus couldn’t even find Luther in the chaos and debris.((A what if theory, among the many possibilities that could have happened during that first apocalyptic timeline. )))
Series: Season 1 what-ifs/fix-its/etc [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877290
Comments: 17
Kudos: 90





	Never had a Chance, Did We?

**Author's Note:**

> I have this posted over on my Tumblr account as well under the same name (black-wolf066) 
> 
> This is just a theory, but i hope you enjoy it none-the-less!

Everything had happened way too quickly.

One moment they were invited to Vanya’s concert, and the next, they were fighting outside of the concert hall.

 _None of them_ made it to the performance.

Klaus couldn’t even tell you what had set everything off. Couldn’t tell you if it was Allison’s words of doubt, or Luther feeding off of that doubt; or even Klaus’ own off handed comment of seeing two ghosts that Leonard—or Harold screamed and corrected him—had murdered. It just—

It just all happened too _quickly_.

Harold jumped to attack. Someone screamed. Harold lost an eye. Then there was nothing but white.

The world shook. His ears popped. He could barely hear the others over the roaring, ringing… _hell_ around them, let alone hear Ben.

When had he hit the ground?

 _Why_ was he on the ground?

Dust and debris floated in his vision, but through it—through Ben’s frantic movements and moving lips, that Klaus couldn’t hear the words of—he could see it. Through the chaos, he saw as Harold was lifted up in the air; his whimpering and begging of his life, falling on deaf ears. He saw Vanya, his tiny unsuspecting little sister, swallowed in a white light that nearly blinded his retinas to look at. He saw Allison and Diego among the rubble.

Allison didn’t get up. Nor did Diego. Klaus couldn’t even find Luther in the chaos and debris.

Another shock wave lashed out; the ringing scrambling his brain as he was brought back down to his knees. The pang of pain flaring against his chest as he was hit hard; stealing the very breath from his lungs. The gusting winds, continued threatening to bowl him over; the dust flying and stinging his eyes as he squinted unwaveringly at his siblings who still hadn’t moved.

Another piercing noise, that sounded like an echoing, distorted scream, had him turning to Vanya; who must have finally caught sight of them too.

Yet another shock wave, stronger this time, pulsed out. Klaus half expected this one to take him out too.

It never hit.

He watched as another pulsating wave of power met Vanya’s head on. This one bluer than the stark white of her own. The wind didn’t reach him anymore; the ringing, throbbing sound that threatened to make his ears bleed, didn’t either. He could barely make out Ben’s frantic voice over his popped ear drums. He could barely make out his _own_ voice, as he questioned who was fighting back against her; both fields of swirling energy sparking with each collision. 

Across the way, Vanya was on her knees just like him. Her head was grasped between her hands as she shook it back and forth; the stringy waves of her power— _Vanya had powers_ —circling around her and lashing out frantically with each outburst. Still, the blue forcefield held; even as the white light grew impossibly brighter—a beam breaking off and flying straight up into the sky.

Belatedly, Klaus realized the blue light was coming from him; the funny feeling in his chest and the tingling sensation on his hands and at the back of his head, finally alerting him that something was up. For one, he found he was extremely injured; feeling as though an elephant was sitting on his ribcage. His lungs barely took in air before sharp pains began to make themselves known. And two—and probably the most distracting—his hands were glowing.

 _They were_ _glowing_!

He barely had time to unwrap that new information as one last pulse wave shot out from Vanya, before she collapsed in a heap. The swirling energy still circling around her, relieved him greatly—just unconscious then. But her powers were weakening against the push of his own.

Ben standing in his line of sight had him looking up; eyes meeting concerned brown as Ben’s lips moved.

 _I can’t hear you._ Klaus thinks he said aloud; it was hard to even tell.

The pain was getting worse. The black spots were beginning to dance in his vision. The blue of the light that surrounded them began to flicker; the tingling sensation drifting to and fro. Ben was still speaking, mouth moving slower, pronouncing words that Klaus could finally read even if he still couldn’t hear them.

_Don’t give up,_

_Breathe Klaus,_

_Breathe,_

He was breathing, thank you very much, Ben. But it was getting harder too do so. He could taste the coppery tang at the back of his throat; the abrupt cough of blood, splattering past his lips and onto the ground—the blue light flickering and flaring as he wobbled.

Neither noticed the moon chunk until it was too late; Klaus’ weakening power not strong enough to fight and encompass Vanya in the safety of it’s light.

He felt the heat first; even through the safety of the shield. The black spots in his vision grew bigger; punctured lungs struggling to take in air as they filled with blood. The last thing he saw before he fell forward and hit the bricks; was the wall of flame rushing toward and over them; the heat searing his skin.

Then everything went black, and Klaus knew no more.

In the aftermath, a young Five would stumble across the four preserved bodies of his siblings; untouched by the fires that charred everything else around him.

He will never know, that the two burnt husks beside them, were Harold and Vanya. He will never know, until it’s too late, that Vanya had been the cause of the end, or that Klaus had unconsciously been the cause of the four of them not meeting a similar fate as everyone else. That because of his powers triggering like a fail-safe—in a last-ditch effort to protect himself and his siblings—Klaus would unknowingly preserve the very eye that would start Five down the path to stopping it.

Their bodies will farther be a driving factor for Five, but Klaus’ open, unseeing eyes, will haunt him the most.

(***)

But this was just one out of many branching possibilities.

Endless timelines breaking off at each change someone made—a different action here, a different set of words there.

A timeline where Klaus was the one to start it. A timeline where someone else entirely different in the world, starts it. A timeline where the fight was at the academy instead of the theater. A timeline where Vanya’s power was the one to protect her sibling’s bodies instead of Klaus.

Endless change, upon endless change. Each doomed to repeat itself over and over. The Commission pushing the right buttons, setting off the right people, to make sure all branching timelines ended as they should.

Too bad the Commission always seem to underestimate Five’s tenacity.

Maybe the world had a chance after all.


End file.
